This invention relates to electrocardiographs and, more particularly, to "probe belts" that are used to hook up patients to the lead electrodes for electrocardiographs.
An electrocardiograph is an instrument used to record the electric impulses generated by the heart with each of its contractions or heartbeats. The impulses can be recorded on paper as a permanent graph, which is called an electrocardiogram ("ECG" or, more popularly, "EKG"). Or, they can be displayed for examination on an oscilloscope.
An EKG is a basic diagnostic indicator that tells the doctor about the condition of his patient's heart. The heart's wave patterns reveal any damage it may have suffered as a result of a coronary attack and how it is reacting to medicines, such as digitalis. The patterns also indicate certain abnormalities that may require further investigation or treatment.
During the early use of electrocardiographs, a single electrode was hooked up to a patient's chest, over his heart, and a comparator electrode (whose electric potential was close to the mean potential of the patient's body during the entire cardiac cycle was usually hooked up to the patient's leg or back. Recently, electrographs have been used with multiple electrodes to provide sufficient information to computers to have them produce three-dimensional models that show the spread of electrical impulses over the heart. By viewing the model, doctors can determine any "dead spots" or areas that are blocked.
Often, electrocardiographs are used in emergency rooms to quickly assess the damage that a heart attack victim has suffered. To be effective, the EKG must be quickly taken. The electrodes used to obtain the necessary information must be quickly attached to the patient's body and must be properly located.
Though the usual procedure is to apply the electrodes separately to the victim's chest with suction cups, this practice is laborious and requires the attention of a skilled nurse, technician or doctor. Further, the cups often come off during movement by the patient.
Accordingly, probe belts have recently been designed to rapidly apply a series of electrocardiograph electrodes to a patient's body by placing a belt onto the wearer's chest that carries a series of these electrodes. By placing the belt onto the wearer's chest, the electrodes are applied simultaneously.
While these belts have generally proved useful, they have had their drawbacks. Some cannot be adjusted so that their electrodes fit the various chest sizes or configurations of different users. Others, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,121,575 and 4,202,344 to Mills et al, can be adjusted to a limited extent, but only after they have been wrapped around the patient's upper torso and fastened behind his back.
Another drawback is that these belt assemblies are generally expensive and not disposable. Further, they are often difficult to clean. As a result, the assemblies are generally kept after prior uses and are not always sterile for future use.
Sometimes the assemblies are used for assessing the heart condition of bloodied accident victims. Obviously, in those kind of instances, it would make sense if the assembly were easily disposable or could be easily cleaned.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved probe belt assembly that overcomes the above-described deficiencies of the prior art.
It is therefore a general object of the invention to provide an improved probe belt assembly that can be quickly adjusted to fit the chest size of most patients.
It is a more specific object to provide a probe belt that can be quickly hooked up to a patient without fastening the belt behind the wearer's back, wherein the belt includes a weighted strip that fits against the wearer's chest and the belt carries a series of eccentrically mounted electrodes that can be rotated so that their patient-contacting surfaces can be quickly adjusted to fit the patient's particular chest size.
It is another general object to provide an improved probe belt assembly with components that are easily disposable or cleanable.
It is a more specific object to provide a probe belt assembly with a belt that is made of disposable or easily cleanable material, wherein the electrodes that the belt carries are specially designed so that they can be easily popped out or removed for disposability or cleaning of the belt.
It is a further object to provide an improved probe belt assembly that is economical and simple in design, yet durable and highly effective to use.
The above and other objects and advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent when the following description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.